Until The Stars Fall
by PenCorp
Summary: He would ghost her steps, until the stars fell from the sky. NejiHina. New title, with credit to Sunako No Ai, because I sincerely liked her idea much better.
1. Chapter 1

_Until The Stars Fall_ - 1154

The wedding had been perfect, Neji decided, as he sipped politely at a cup of sake. Hinata was sitting with her father, decked beautifully in ceremonial robes that couched design work somewhere north of half a million (but nothing was too good for the Main house). He mused over the delightfully two-faced machinations of his uncle, as the man had only a month ago despaired over the worthlessness of his daughter. How one changes his tune upon the discovery of a lame horse making up for its lack in glue.

A man like Neji could appreciate the irony.

He watched her lovely face smile a smile that never quite reached her eyes, graciously accepting the gifts of money and general wares of the newlywed. Hiashi had a magnanimous look on his face that made Neji want to put down his cup and puke (or punch the bastard, but he knew to what end such an act would lead).

The heat and smoke of the anteroom was stifling.

"Oh, how lovely she looks!" _Yes_, Neji agreed.

"Ah, she has done her family proud. Our future is secured!" _Perhaps_, he mused.

"...I certainly wished this day would come a little later. She is still so young, after all." _Most assuredly_.

Neji had in fact prayed this day would never come, but like most of his prayers it had remained unanswered. Fate and time had worked their magic, and he was left in the most awkward position of his life.

He'd never run from anything, but somehow his legs had pushed him from his seat and propelled him towards the door. He would need the air, the silence, to prepare himself for tonight.

..o0o..

The stars were quite peaceful against a dark blue sky - - velvet purple and warm. Deepest red to orange-pink glowed in the distance, and Neji decided he would remember the sight for an eternity. The lingering effects of the Byakugan tended to hyper set images in one's mind (like a fire brand), and he wondered idly, if this was due to its relation with the Uchiha Sharingan.

His thoughts veered however at the delicate approach of his cousin. It was strange how he could taste her scent before he even heard her - - an interesting and intoxicating mix of lavender and the darkest and sweetest part of the forest.

She whispered his name through the shoji door, and his eyes twitched to the full moon that hung like a pearl in the sky.

If he strained his mind (which was difficult because one lacks imagination when they're given sight to virtually everything) he could see Hinata seated much as he was, back against the paper and wood, pretty combs pulled free from her hair. It made him think fondly of how she'd cut his own hair, shoring it to the required length for his entry into the Black Ops (he could tie a stubby pony tail at the base of his neck now).

"...I'm n-not r-ready for this Neji-nii." Her voice was close to his ear and he could imagine her loving face turned to the door, speaking only for him.

He wasn't ready for it either, and because he knew it in the depths of his heart, in the darkest part of his mind, he set about trying to convince his cousin she was (because over the years, Neji had learned of his aptitude for convincing her of anything).

"You are." It was whispered in return, in that firm and implacable way that Hinata had grown so accustomed to. He could see her pale eyes, brows furrowed with consternation, and the image made him smile (though it was humorless).

"Will it -" Her hesitation pained him, because he knew she was moving away from him already. She thickly swallowed, "Will it hurt?"

_Oh god, he just couldn't do this._

Neji closed his eyes and wondered, if he ever did manage to get this damn curse mark lifted, whether it would make a difference anyway. With a dull thunk he rocked his head against the wood.

"...Didn't the women explain this to you?"

There was silence for a time, before she began in a small voice (the one where she would poke her forefingers together).

"Yes, b-but...Neji, I know you wouldn't lie to me. You never lie to me, even when its meant to hurt."

He could feel his heart tumble and bitterly ache. It hurt so bad he actually looked down for a physical wound, because nothing less than a sword through his chest would've caused so much pain.

Neji sighed, because the night was young, and he felt a million years old.

"It will hurt," the slight trembling of her breath made him want to rip open the door and promise she'd never have to do anything she didn't want to - but he didn't. "But pain is fleeting, Hinata-san. You will adjust and your love will adjust accordingly."

Because he knew she needed reassurance more than anything else, and love was a woman's thing.

_He was such a deluded little prick._

Neji swallowed over the sting in his throat, the scent of her tears making him want to go far away, as far as humanly possible (though he'd already discussed this with himself and knew it was impossible, despite his responsibilities).

"T-thank y-you, Neji-nii." He thought how awfully funny it was he'd been delegated to brother again (but he wouldn't begrudge Hinata her defenses, as he had his own).

There was silence, though it was of a different sort this time. Heavy steps in the night, on the delicate main house panels, and Neji was half sick and half-angry at the stupidity that put a noble as Hinata's husband and not at the very least a Ninja. He could gut this man in his sleep and none would know.

Except perhaps Hinata (but these were resentful and half-cocked ideas).

He could hear the murmur and whisper of voices, the shuffle of feet, and if he imagined hard enough he might feel the touch of her kiss through the wood.

Neji would stay by her side every day, ghost her steps for a life time, and sit outside her room every night. All because he was charged to do so by some mark on his forehead (and, maybe, if he admitted the truth in the broken silence of the night, who would ever know?).

Even if the mark was gone, he chuckled sadly to himself, Neji would still be her guard until the very stars fell from the sky.

A/N - another difficult piece to write. Do you think the ending lagged? Hmm. Anyway, music of choice was some Celine Dion, b/c that Canadian bitch makes me cry. Ugh, I'm like so sad now. I'll definitely have to do some happy and/or smutty NejiHina after this. Review, anyway. I do like criticism. (PS - I DON'T LIKE THE TITLE! CAN ANYONE OFFER A BETTER ONE? I was going to do it untitled, but that's terrible I think. However, I will take suggestions and change it - with full credit it to the namer! Ahee ahee!)


	2. Chapter 2

_Until The Stars Fall _- 1306

It had started out as quiet meals between the two of them, when her husband was away (in addition to a surplus of old money, he was a well known business man, providing much of the Nin issue gear in the village). They would meet and talk quietly over what the cooks made, or what she herself put together, when one or the other was not off on a mission. If he were being frank, and he often was, Neji thought it lucky her husband hadn't seen a problem in her continued career as a Nin, because he had a feeling it would've destroyed his cousin (despite her strength, Hinata was still limited in many ways).

They would sit respectively across from each other, propriety always marked and held in perfect check.

Neji supposed it wasn't very surprising (Hinata being the creature she was) that he'd eventually begun to sit beside her, laughing over silly and simple things. They would smile and drink a lot and pick food from each others bowls. They shared a quiet comradery, which was all the more beautiful for it's secretness.

Hinata confided all the things she loved about directing the main house, as well as her struggles (_hates_, because she was too much of a lady to speak harshly of the Hyuuga, even when she silently thought so). _Sometimes_, his cousin had said, she thought her inheritance was in name only.

Neji had answered in his calm and reassuring way, and Hinata had smiled, granting him her beautiful blush. He hated the fact love was so complicated, cursing every god and devil in-between that made him still want his _married cousin_.

He remembered (with a touch of fondness and overwhelming regret) that it was early spring when they'd come together as lovers. She'd been crying in the training room over a broken flower pot (he never did figure out the reason why) and Neji, always close and always listening, had hastened at the sound. She'd explained through sobs how it was nothing, that she was fine, tugging fitfully at the hem of her thin kimono, and he'd replied dryly how it was obvious she was not fine and it was _something_. Neji supposed (looking back on it now) it had been wrong to watch the perfect swell of her breasts, as they moved in time with her tears.

He remembered how he'd only wanted to make it stop. His single use was preventing her pains, her troubles, and he was angry that he couldn't even do _that _right.

It made him so angry that a man who should've been with her every moment of every day, barely showed a minute's interest.

He always had a terrible temper.

In a fit of frustration and unrequited love, Neji had dragged her towards him, pulling her up on her knees and smashing her lips into his. They were warm and soft and tasted like the strawberries she'd eaten earlier, and he'd thought, dear god how could it be everything and nothing like he'd ever imagined? He'd tasted and relished every inch of her mouth.

She hadn't made a sound though, and feeling ten kinds of fool, Neji had been on the verge of letting go and high tailing it for the mission desk (he'd thought a deadly A-rank or something similar would've been welcome at the moment).

However, to his immense despair and simultaneous relief, his too-sweet Hinata had lifted her small hands and cupped his face, holding him there with a woman's strength. The only kind of power she ever truly held over him, because even his ridiculous curse mark couldn't bid him to do something if he didn't want to.

She'd half laughed and half sobbed when they parted, and he'd seen in her eyes all the emotions he knew must've been swimming in his.

The rest had been a flurry of ties and soft material, and Neji hadn't even fully taken off his hie-ate before he'd had her pinned against one of the dojo walls. Her strong and curvy legs wrapped around his waist.

He'd taken her in the dark, hiding from the heat and harsh reality of the day.

Somehow (in the most tortured part of his mind) he'd always known Hinata was a screamer. The sound of his name tearing from her swollen pink lips had threatened to unman him. No stupid appellations, no _Neji-nii_, no _nii-san_, he'd thought wildly as he'd thrust into her, just _Neji - just his name_.

He'd decided then and there, with no mind to the dark phantom of her husband and loom of their family that he could grow quite accustomed to the sound.

Adultery, incest, it all rang so sordid (something he'd never have a part in were he given the option) but every time he looked at Hinata, words simply failed. She was beyond the stain of such things.

...o0o...

_It would be a year next week_, Neji mused, as he slid his tongue down the smooth curve of her stomach, and he wasn't finished growing accustomed to her yet. He still couldn't get enough of the sound of her voice, breathless and shy, or loud and demanding.

He felt her tug at his hair, and he smirked into the hem of her panties, moving to inch the strap down with his teeth. He licked at the sensitive skin, and feeling more in a teasing mood, swiped long slow, strokes along the sweetest part of her. She nudged at his shoulder blade with a dainty heel and he chuckled, the sound reverberating deep if her sudden moan was anything to go on - - and it usually was, as Hinata was terribly expressive. He slid his hands beneath her bottom, giving it a sharp squeeze, before lifting her up so he could taste her properly.

He thought it strange and oddly arousing that every inch of her was as sweet as her lips.

Neji knew it wouldn't last forever (a dalliance he tried to convince himself, if only so his heart wouldn't blacken entirely) and one day he wouldn't feel her climb soft into his bed when her husband failed to come home. He wouldn't have the touch or taste of her lingering in his mouth, or the hot comfort of her surrounding him, holding him just right.

It made him sick and so damn happy that they fit together like the pieces of a puzzle.

He'd decided that some noble with not a scar to his name could never attest to so much, and if Neji held her a little tighter than was wise, or stayed up too long just running his fingers through her hair, it was only to convince himself of this fact. Hinata never said anything (she'd told him once, tears in her lavender eyes that were-not-quite-like his own that she didn't like speaking of another man when she was with him - - as if he could ever deny her) but he knew, an animal's knowing, that her husband could never have her the way he did.

For now Neji would kiss her in the dark, follow ten yards behind in the day, and damn fate and all those stupid consequences.

He'd grown so tired of waiting for inevitable things.

A/N - this has turned into a complicated thing in my head. It's gonna end up a couple chapters that are pretty much stand alone, but still work in the arc of the theme. I've already got the drama mapped out in my head.

Next chapter, Hinata style: what happens when our tragic beauty finds out some potentially devastating news (look at PenCorp, trying to be vague, god how she sucks!)? Ku Ku Ku, Hyuuga drama of the worst kind. God, I love forbidden love. Incest and adultery? Be still my beating heart.

Review, darlings.

P.S - psst! Thanks to Sunako no Ai - I think I will use your suggestion, prolly when I do the next chapter and can map out the appropriate credit in the Summary. I ended up sticking this in as a chapter a couple days out, and then deleting it immediately, b/c it didn't flow the way I wanted - I'm picky as HELL. So now it will be more than a oneshot. Sorta. Like a series of oneshots. Bleah.


	3. Chapter 3

1_Until The Stars Fall_ - 1337

"You have to put more of your weight into the kick."

Hinata smiled secretly behind the arm she arced before her, delighted eyes following her cousin around the room. He'd comment and she'd dutifully correct, never really talking except with their gestures or a soft gaze. She loved it when he'd suddenly reach out and bend her arm or slip his fingers under her knee and pull it a little higher.

When they lingered longer than necessary, Hinata would turn and press a kiss into whatever body part she could reach. Sometimes his jaw, other times his shoulder, one time his stomach (but she'd come to the conclusion that she shouldn't do that very much, because the interlude had ended on her hands and knees). He would usually smile though, and silently move away so she could continue her training.

If her husband didn't come home, she would follow Neji to his room just across from her own, and it was another routine that both broke her heart and warmed it again. Perhaps it was too much to hope that some miracle would happen and Hitomi would die, or he'd fall in love with someone else and she would be left with Neji. Divorce was not conceivable among the clans - - you married and then you died - - but still she prayed, and at night she dreamed.

About waking up held tight in her cousin's arms, everyday, for the rest of her life.

She almost couldn't bear it when she'd wake up cold, curled into a ball on the far side of the bed, the loud snores of her paunchy husband buzzing in her ears. Hinata was so glad on the occasions he'd return long after she'd fallen asleep, because despite not loving him, he was still a nice man and wouldn't wake her for the things he might want.

An unspoken agreement had been made the first night of their marriage that she would let him perform his duty as a husband, but only if it was a handful of times per month. She found the act tiresome and a little sickening when her heart was lying in the next room, and perhaps Hitomi had sensed it or perhaps he just wasn't very interested as well, but either way she was thankful.

Hinata hated it the most when she went to Neji after one of those nights, because she knew he could hear them - - or at least Hitomi, because she never really made any sounds.

Looking back on it now, she supposed such secrecy couldn't last forever, however much she might've wished it would.

Hinata moaned into his mouth as he kissed her in the training room, his hands sliding up and down the bandages wrapped around her chest. His thumbs abraded her nipples through the gauze and she shivered as she bit into his bottom lip. She knew they really shouldn't be fooling around in such a public place, but Neji always seemed to push her buttons at the worst times. He'd made some typically arrogant remark (which she mostly shrugged off because they'd become somewhat teasing now) but at the time she'd decided not to think in response and had instead reacted. Hinata almost wanted to slap herself now, but the feel of his erection pressing against her thigh stopped her.

It had been mortally stupid to launch her fist at him. He'd only blinked and flipped her around with an arm held behind her back, probably confused by the sudden leap into sparring. Hinata didn't want to admit having all that barely concealed strength over her or under her seemed to turn her legs and stomach into jelly.

And Neji, she thought with a grin, only needed the slightest invitation, just a shudder, before he was all over her.

Drawing in a breath, Hinata backed up a little and gave him a heated look from under lowered eyelids, letting herself soak in the firm muscles of his arms and chest. One or two scars littered his body, and far from diminishing his looks they only seemed to enhance them, because he was a Ninja and there was the proof. She loved kissing and licking the imperfections, following the swirl on his shoulder with a delicate finger.

"Stop doing that and come here." He fidgeted slightly and Hinata couldn't help losing her heart that much more, because he was nervous under her perusal. She knew how Tenten and many other village girls would stare at him, but they could've been dancing the polka for all he noticed.

_God, I love you,_ she wanted to say, but bit back the words, because it would've implied permanence and all they had was now.

Before Hinata could dance out of reach, his hand had darted out and caught the edge of her bindings. He tugged and she blushed (even after all their time together, she was still embarrassed when he caught her without her clothes on) as the wraps drifted down to hang off her hips.

Her heart lodged itself in her throat at the pure heat of his look.

"Miss Hinata?"

Neji had her against the wall in an instant, hidden perfectly in a shadowy corner of the dojo. She couldn't help but be reminded of their first time together with the position an exact facsimile.

She knew her guard (chosen for life) would never let her be seen like that, and it warmed her to the tips of her toes.

"U-uh yes?"

He smirked just before he rolled his hips, no doubt relishing the moan he'd ripped from her. She tried to disguise it with a forced cough, and glared at Neji while she did.

"Ma'am? I know we were asked not to bother you, but the doctor's here, as you requested."

Hinata could see the question in her cousin's eyes, but hastened to reassure with a kiss and a quick rub of her foot that it was nothing. She'd just been feeling a little under the weather lately.

Perhaps, it'd been stupid of her not to notice the fluctuations of her body sooner (she was a shinobi after all) but Hinata supposed the distractions of her life had been numerous at the time. Still, she might've been able to do something about it - - but as she stared at the medic nin standing so happily before her, she wasn't so sure she would've wanted to.

After all, she thought blankly to herself, Neji would've said it was fate, right?

...o0o...

All the congratulations had given her a headache by the end of the night. Her husband had been appropriately happy, smiling and accepting congenial pats and handshakes. Hinata had been forced to work double to keep the wince from her face as her father looked upon her proudly, patting her shoulder, and no doubt thinking how good a breeding horse she was.

If only he knew, she'd mused ironically.

Neji had been distant, because he knew his place and it killed her that she'd never be able to tell him - - because as much as it hurt her, she knew it would pain him worse. Maybe she was being selfish, she decided, or maybe she was being brave or even cowardly, but the thought of telling him the truth made her stomach heave worse than the child did.

_A child_, her heart alternately wept and laughed as she sat alone in her room that night. Hitomi had long passed out with congratulatory sake, snoring lightly on the bed - - and Hinata could only stare at the mirror, the reflection of herself, and wonder what her stomach would look like in three months, six months, nine months. She wondered if it would have her lavender tinted hues.

She wondered with a horrible pain in her chest, if it would have Neji's lazer white eyes.

Tears slipped unnoticed down her face, dripping silently onto her hands and onto the floor, because Hinata had just found out she was six weeks pregnant.

Six weeks pregnant with Neji Hyuuga's child.

A/N - Omg. I seriously started tearing up towards the end. I'm really sorry these chapters are so short, but after starting them a certain length, I'd like to finish them that way as well. I hope the people reading this will stay with me to the end, and perhaps into a new story I'm also working on (which, hopefully, will have longer chapters, thank you GOD).

Thank you _x-Hyuuga-x_ you're are like the sweetest lil' thang I've had in a long time, and I love lollipops - hugs and kisses b/c I think some molestation is in order! Yeah, kick me if I'm getting creepy, as I tell all of my friends. Working hard on the next chappie!

Prolly Hinata style...I think.

OH! and inspiration for that bandage scene - - drumroll - - c'mon you guys! Shakespeare in Love is a must for all you hopeless romantics! God I'm such a SAP! I secretly relish drama and sweet, sweet love like a sour apple lollipop!

REVIEW!


	4. Chapter 4

_Until The Stars Fall_ - 1778

They hadn't spoken in months. Not that Hinata could blame him or anything - - in fact, she often wondered (alone in the dojo or training by the lake) if he felt the same dull ache in his chest as she did in hers. Like their naive little dreams were destroyed now and it was pointless to continue some doomed love affair.

_But that was the problem_, Hinata thought sadly to herself, it was a _love _affair and love couldn't be turned off like water from a faucet. Well, at least her love couldn't. Sometimes Neji seemed the type (so cold and faraway), yet at other times she couldn't fathom his eyes ever looking at her without such secret warmth and blatant heat. It was like dying that he never touched her anymore - - not when they trained, or ate together, or played shogi, or anything.

He locked his door at night. She was barred even that comfort, the one only found in his strong arms.

As she stared across the table at him, both quiet and with impeccable manners, Hinata felt that arrow sharp pain in her heart widen exponentially. She wondered if Neji could rip the damn thing out as he'd already done so in the figurative sense, because she was getting quite tired of the hormones and sickness that jangled in her slightly rounder belly. Her nerves were scratched so raw.

She couldn't even keep the food down (damn nurse said it might continue throughout the entire pregnancy - - just like Neji Hyuuga, his offspring seemed to want her to suffer as well) and it tasted like ash anyway. She wanted to throw the plate at his head and stomp off for a good cry.

Neji just cleared his throat and kept eating. It was so quiet Hinata was sure he could hear her barely stifled sobs, dry and quick breathed. She hated how the Hyuuga compound was so cold to her. The temperature, she silently sniffled, and the people in it. Hinata hadn't felt properly warm since her last encounter with Neji four months ago.

_Why did winter have to come so quickly upon their little section of Konohagakure?_

"Stop it Hinata-san. You're mewling's giving me a headache."

Four months of his curt words which had only worsened from even before they'd become lovers (she felt it was on par with his rudeness during their genin days) four months of cold silence, her body betraying her so utterly, and Hinata couldn't take it anymore. She did exactly as she'd wanted to do (without remorse or censure) and chucked her full bowl of food at him. It cracked and splattered all across the wall behind his cooly tilted head.

"Now why did you dodge _Neji_? Your cousin only wished to help relieve your headache." Hinata spat the words with pure venom and misery (though, even she found it out of character) willing to blame it on hormones later if she had to. Right now, however, she blamed it entirely on herself and the anger in her heart - - the bitterness of their position and how she just _couldn't _tell him. She might hurt now, but it wouldn't even compare to the pain she'd feel if he knew the truth, the look on his face.

Neji had so much pride. _How_, she thought angrily, how could she expect him not to claim what was his, even at the swords of the entire main branch? She wouldn't watch him on his knees again by that fucking seal, she wouldn't and she couldn't, not again.

They'd kill him - - because as much pride as Neji had, so did her husband. Kindness only stretched so far, and she doubted any man could stand the degradation of being cuckolded.

"Hinata." It was said with such dark warning, she felt the tears spill over before she could stop them (because it was the first time he'd said her name in months, her name without the oh-so cold delegation of respect). She wanted to run over to him and kiss him and apologize for her stupid body messing things up, ask him to run away with her so she could tell him who exactly her baby belonged to, who _she _belonged to.

Yet her feet wouldn't move, she just kept on crying - - even as a servant came to see what the loud noise had been about, even when Neji had angrily sent them away.

Even when he'd slowly risen to his feet, clad in his every day attire that always seemed to make her blood rush. A pair of faded gray sweat pants and a white tank, hair customarily tied into a short pony tail. Hinata still cried even as her heart beat sped at his sudden nearness, and when he cupped her face and pressed a kiss to her forehead. She was afraid to put her hands on him because she was sure she'd never let go - - and it would be worse than anything she ever felt if he looked upon her with annoyance, or god help her, apathy.

Then his mouth was on hers and she didn't think of anything, because it was _Neji _touching her again, touching her as if she'd never let go and he'd never left. It was angry, harsh, biting, so much like their first time together, and Hinata accepted it all with an equal passion, sucking his tongue when he'd shoved it into her mouth. She knew it would be like that with other parts of their body as well. He'd shove and she'd take it, so hot and so sweet.

The tears dried on her cheeks because he had that amazing power to make her feel so very out of place.

She had no idea how they'd gotten to his room (though a vague suspicion led to her believe he'd carried her while she'd been kissing and tugging at his clothes) but it didn't matter much because she was naked and he was naked and they were together again. _Even for a little while_, something whispered at the back of her head, even if it was only superficial.

His stare had lingered on her stomach too long and just when Hinata felt like hiding or crying again, she caught a flare of jealousy behind those deceptively white eyes. God, why did her heart have to scream so loud - - why did the words have to be on the tip of her tongue, half way through her lips? Why did lying have to hurt so much? _And the Hyuuga_, she thought with fleeting resentment, had to be so good at it, all of them, except for her.

She knew she should be appalled by the emotion, but it made her insides flutter when he looked at the child he thought wasn't his with envy - - because she knew he wanted it to be. Then Neji hauled her onto his lap and begun sucking her lips again, as if familiarizing himself with a taste he'd forgotten. He ran his rough thumbs along the underside of her breasts, so soft she felt a shiver race down her spine and curl her toes. Hinata decided she could like being on top if it meant Neji always grunted her name like that, when all she was doing was rubbing against him, shallowly sliding herself up down his length. With each quickening breath she decided she could probably come without even fully taking him in - - and the thought brought a cute smile to her face.

Neji must've caught it though, because suddenly she was on her hands and knees in plush cotton. He'd done it so fast, so delicately Hinata hadn't even felt his touch.

"Ah, Hinata, I don't think so. I give you way to much freedom I think." He chuckled in her ear and Hinata knew a really horrendous blush was working its way up her neck and face. Then he was easing into her from behind and she could barely support her weight, her arms were shaking so bad. God, she silently moaned, she'd been so sensitive and so needy these past weeks it felt like everything had culminated into the one perfect moment Neji was inside her again. Hinata moved at his slow steady pace, panting and moaning as the world went out of focus. Tears pricked her eyes when she came because he'd so gently splayed his hand across her stomach, his other banding across her chest, just as her legs went out.

She felt his own orgasm warm and wetly slipping down her thighs.

"_God, I love you."_ As soon as the words were out Hinata wanted to shove them back in again, horrified that a little sex had somehow loosened her tongue to stupid proportions. She'd never said it to him, not once and she hadn't planned on telling him those three little words until the day she died.

_And,_ she thought with a slight catch to her throat, it was silent again - - that heart crushing silence which threatened to drown her.

Hinata couldn't look at him, and though she felt like a coward for doing it (she'd been feeling like a coward so much lately) she curled up on her side and pretended to fall asleep. Again, she hated the cold after so much blissful heat.

She knew Neji hadn't been fooled, and maybe because he wanted to forget it or he didn't know how to respond, he let her get away with the farce. Then he wrapped her up in his blankets and tucked her underneath the familiar warmth and weight of his arm. If she hadn't already begun to make her act a reality, Hinata was sure she would've started crying gain.

Perhaps, her mind sleepily mused, she could never tell him, perhaps he would grow to hate her, but at least he knew the reason why - - because there was only one reason she would ever lie to him.

It was because she loved him. She loved him so damn much.

"I know." She felt a big, infinitely careful hand push a couple sweaty strands of hair from her face. It lingered for a moment before moving down to wrap around her stomach.

The warmth seeped slowly but surely into the deepest parts of her soul.

She'd missed him so much.

...o0o...

What Hinata couldn't even begin to imagine was how much he'd missed _her_. On her way out the next morning, Neji accidently snapped the lock off his door and after she'd beamed and kissed him breathless, he muttered something about cheap locks and how you just can't trust contractors anymore (nevermind that he'd been the one to put the latch on his door in the first place).

A/N - cough, cough. My hopefully good attempt at a lemon. (ha ha pregnancy sex) I wanted to make it as tasteful as possible, while still doing a good job – plz leave reviews, they make my day! God the fluff and drama of this story. My emotions run the gamut by the end, whew. I hope you guys like the little bit of humor at the very end too, and I'm sorry I'm still making these chapters longer, even though there never really seems to be anything going on. Tell me I don't suck, plz. Mercury's in retrograde or something and my week has sucked so PLZ tell me I don't fail as a writer.

Okay! The pity fest is now over! I wanted to say I absolutely love 'Clip My Wings' by x-Hyuuga-x and totally recommend it as a good read! Bop over and read her (or him, I'm not sexist) story and totally leave a review! SHAMELESS PLUG, B/C LOL I'M IN LOVE WITH HER (or him). The fact her (his) chapters come so quick make me happy.

Song of the day - Paula Cole - I Don't Wanna Wait. (Because I was listening to it when I finished this chapter.)

Errr, next is (scratches head) Neji style? I think I'll do them in couplets or something. Eh. I kind of like writing from Hinata's point of view, but I kinda miss Neji's biting angst.


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